Damnation and Redemption (in a Fallen Empire)
by ScarletSeraph
Summary: The events of the night Shin-Ra, Inc. fell, as seen from Scarlet's POV, and the explanation of how she escaped - barely - with her own life. Rated R for violence and language.


Damnation and Redemption in a Fallen Empire 

_ ** Disclaimer: ** I do not own Final Fantasy VII. I do not own Rufus, though I wish I did. I also do not own Scarlet (she owns me), Reno, Rude, or Elena. I do not own Heidigger, nor do I want to. _

Darkness. Unyielding, unrelenting. The woman stirred, slowly becoming all too aware of the cloying heat that held her, rather firmly, in its grasp. By the Planet. It hadn't been this hot since the last summer she'd spent in Costa del Sol, when the record temperatures had driven even the most die-hard beachmongers indoors to seek the sanctuary of their air-conditioned hotel rooms. The memory was evoked so clearly that she quickly became convinced that the sun would be blazing down on her when she opened her eyes - and so, the blue orbs but cracked slightly; ready to flinch shut once more at the first sign of that bright, baleful gaze. 

Darkness; so thick as to send her spiralling into disorientation nearly the instant it reached her eyes. Not that it was a long journey, by that point. Startled by the sheer _ blackness _ of her surroundings, she sat upright - 

- or would have, had she not been prevented from doing so by the weight above her. The slight motion permitted her, however, was more than enough to send pain flooding back into numbed limbs, and she moaned softly. 

_ Oh, God, it hurts ithurtsithurts. _

Realizing that in the silent darkness, there would likely be no one to see her cry, she wept. No one to see the sharp tracks her tears carved in the layers of dust upon her cheeks, no one to see how quickly they were stained again by the particles that still sifted, occasionally, onto her form as the wreckage settled. No one to hear the desperate pleas of the woman buried beneath the remains of Shin-Ra, Inc. Fitting, really, that the one-time source of her salvation should now be her damnation. 

_ No one's going to pull you out of the slums this time. There isn't anyone left. Soon enough, there won't even be anyone that will remember you. You'll have died in vain, just like you always feared - _

"I don't want to die!" 

* * * 

"...you guys are worthless, but my proud creation is a sure thing! I'll show you the destructive power of the Proud Clod!" 

* * * 

_ ...yeah, that was a shining moment. _

* * * 

"Kyahaha! One last shot, and we'll finish them off!" A slender hand ran lovingly over the control panel of the giant mecha as Scarlet gazed on the rag-tag band of "heroes" that stood before it. With the tip of her tongue touching to half-parted, painted lips, her expression bordered on ecstatic; almost orgasmic. Revenge _ would _ be hers. Shin-Ra, Inc. might be battered and burned, but it would never go down. 

Unless it was _ on _ someone, but that was another matter entirely. And one that would likely to have to wait for a long, long time. The woman tore her eyes from the viewscreen briefly to cast a disgusted glance at her companion in the mecha, even as the construct shuddered faintly under another blow from without. 

_ Next time, I am bringing ** anyone ** else. _

"Gyaa, ha, ha!" 

"...didn't Rufus tell you to cut the damned horse laugh?" she snapped, tossing a lock of hair from her face. 

The rotund man's face fell. "Yes," he admitted finally; only for the garish grin to return an instant later. "But the President isn't here anymore! Gyaa, ha, ha!" 

Scarlet suppressed a growl, one hand curling into a fist at her side. " _ Don't _ go there, Heidigger," she warned. "Or I'll see to it personally that your laugh isn't the only thing that's cut." 

"Gyaa, ha ha! What are you going to do? Report me for insubordination? To _ who? _ Gyaa - " 

"Push the button," she interrupted curtly, sick of listening to his nasal laughter. 

"What?" Caught off guard in his moment of glory, Heidigger blinked uncomprehendingly. 

"Push the _ button, _ Heidigger. It's on your side." 

"...oh." The grossly overweight executive fell silent, studying the control panel for a moment. At last, a hand extended to poke at one of the sensors with a meaty finger. "...it's stuck." 

"...what do you _ mean, _ it's stuck?" 

"I mean, it's stuck! It won't move! Gyaa, ha...ah...er..." 

"By the Planet," Scarlet muttered, attempting to maneuver around the man without being forced to touch him. When she'd first drawn up the plans for the Proud Clod, a machine originally designed for materia retrieval rather than out-and-out war, she hadn't intended on the control room needing to hold more than two people. Heidigger, unfortunately, counted as two people on his own - if not three - and her irritation with the man's incompetence had just reached the breaking point. With a shriek of, "Get out of my _ way, _ you fat fool!" she shoved her elbow into his gut; grimacing as the limb sank into the gelatinous mass. The push had the intended effect, though. Heidigger stumbled back with a look of confusion, giving the developer just enough room to squeeze past and peer at the controls. 

_ The ** first ** thing I am doing when I get home is taking a bath. _

He hadn't been kidding, though. The transparent plastic slab covering the switch for the largest of the Mako guns was cracked; jammed into the panel at an angle. "You fucking _ moron! _ " A heel crashed against the floor as she spun to stare at Heidigger. "You _ broke _ it! You broke my _ baby! _ " Unable to control her rage at the overwhelming stupidity, she drew a hand back; savouring the expression on the man's face in the seconds before her fist slammed into it. 

It was obvious that even after the first display of violence, he hadn't been expecting the attack - the occasions that Scarlet went so far as to physically take her anger out on Shin-Ra employees, no matter how deserving, were rare. All the better for her now, when she needed the element of surprise. Piggish eyes rolled back, and Heidigger crashed into the back wall. 

"Kyahaha! How does it feel, Hei - " Her own victory was cut short as the floor rocked beneath her. It took her but a matter of seconds to realize that the sudden shift in weight had thrown the weakened mecha off-balance. Even as she turned to slap helplessly at the control panel, she realized that it was already too late - the Proud Clod toppled forward, its knees striking the ground with a shower of sparks. 

"Wha's goin' on?" Heidigger's voice was sickeningly wet as he staggered to his feet; a result of the blood dripping unchecked from the sockets of missing teeth. The blonde woman threw up a hand as he spewed the droplets toward her with his words; a vain attempt to ward off the filth. 

"You're going to Hell," she snarled, continuing her frantic press of buttons. The red and Mako-green lights of the LED sensors were fading fast, and the temperature inside the mecha rising - if something didn't work, and soon, both of them would be. Scarlet was suddenly aware of just how much she hated the repulsive little man in that moment; moreso than even the murderers of her lovers. 

Without warning, the painful shriek of metal shearing metal assailed her ears, and she cringed. 

"Gyaa, ha, ha! Shere'sh'a door!" Heidigger sputtered. 

"I _ know _ there's a door, you odious twit! Now for the last time, get _ out _ of my way!" Both hands thrust against the panel and she pushed herself away; only to rebound off Heidigger's bulk. The force knocked the off-kilter man to the floor, and Scarlet scrambled forward, no longer caring if she had to have physical contact with the fool to crawl over him. 

As her fingers captured the edge of the escape hatch, she yelped in pain and snatched them away. The once-red metal of the mecha's shell was growing whitish with the heat, and she cursed loudly for not having thought to watch what she was doing. But there wasn't enough _ time _ to make a bloody plan by the point she'd realized that she needed one. There still wasn't. The Proud Clod trembled again, and Heidigger rolled beneath her; come what may, it had to be _ now. _ Delighting in the shriek of agony that resulted as she drove her heel down on the round executive - and the way that it was abruptly cut off - the woman propelled herself forward to dive through the opening. 

She met the ground with a crack and a whimper, fighting to push the sudden influx of pain in her arm to the back of her mind. _ Don't look don't look don't look. Have to ** go. Now! ** _

The snapped wrist cradled in her other hand, Scarlet leapt to her feet; her remaining shoe abandoned now that its mate was stuck between Heidigger's eyes. The ground beneath her toes was slick and gritty, and from the sound of thunder rumbling overhead, it looked like it would seen be wet. 

That...isn't thunder. 

Oh, shit. 

She'd made it only a few steps before she gave up on the idea of running altogether, and ducked into one of the recesses along the alleyway - and not a moment too soon, either. The roar of the explosion was deafening, and even flattened against the wall, she could feel the wash of heat. 

_ My baby...oh, that's the last time I listen to Heidigger's suggestions for names. Clod, indeed. _

No time for that now, either. She glanced down at her arm, biting back a wave of nausea as the scent of burnt flesh reached her nostrils. The tips of her fingers were blistered, though the sight was almost welcome compared to the image of the white bone protruding from her wrist. It needed to be set - her chances of finding healing materia weren't good, she knew - but... 

Rufus... 

"The President is dead! Now I'm doing things my way! Gyaa, ha, ha!" 

...you sure are, Heidigger, you a lying son-of-a-bitch. And you're dead - but I'm not, and if I made it out... 

Blue eyes lifted and turned toward Shin-Ra Headquarters, and the flames still flickering through what was left of the upper floors. 

...then surely, he did. After all...we were so much alike that way. 

We were so close... 

I can't let it end like this. 

The head of Weapons Development leaned against the wall and tipped her face to the sky, struggling to gasp a breath in air riddled with smoke and chemical fumes. Gradually, the sear in her lungs lessened; eased by the sheets of water that had begun to fall from the clouds. She gripped her wrist more tightly, teeth gritted against the sharp pangs borne of bone grating against bone, and set out into the dark streets of Midgar. 

She could hear the wet slap of her toes on the pavement, but it didn't seem real. It couldn't be. She'd failed, the Turks had failed, even Rufus had failed...but she'd never believe, even for an instant, that Shin-Ra had failed. Midgar was burning before her eyes, but like the proverbial phoenix, Shin-Ra, Inc. would rise from its ashes; led back to glory by the guidance of Rufus Shin-Ra, and Scarlet Kirana. 

The gleam of the Sister Ray rose before her, and she stopped, gazing at the remodeled Mako Cannon through tangles of sodden hair. The shouting atop it was faint, from this distance, but it was there. 

You can still have your revenge, Scarlet. For yourself, and for Shin-Ra, and for the Proud Clod. And for Rufus... 

I know. 

Her lips thinned, and she stepped toward the framework that supported the grand weapon. 

It was slow going, with one hand. The most she could do was to hook the elbow of the shattered arm through the grids and hope to get a secure grasp on the next before she hauled herself up. The gaps between the steel lattices were too far apart to be an easy climb, having never been intended for such, and now that they'd buckled under the force of the last firing, irregular; but it would have taken too long to backtrack through the alleys and reach the stairwell that led to the top. 

Within her fingers, the metal trembled, and Scarlet flinched. Whatever was going on up there was growing increasingly more violent - the seeming theme of the evening. All bets were off, and she didn't trust whatever beastie Hojo had cooked up this time to be able to finish the renegades for good. She wouldn't be satisfied until she saw the bodies herself - as good as the thought of picking them off one by one felt to the battered woman, she knew it was unlikely that she'd be able to do so. Their deaths, by whatever hand, would suffice. 

She'd never really paused to consider the sheer height of the Mako Cannon before, something she was now berating herself for. Peeking at the ground had proved to be a mistake, as it heralded a brief fit of vertigo; but she was still nearer to it than she was the top, by far. For a few seconds, she chanced resting her cheek against the frame. The metallic whine that seeped into her head quickly became more than a minor annoyance, though, and she pulled it away - just as Reeve's words came back to haunt her in a rush of half-heard memory. 

_ He can't really be intending to fire it. No - no - please... _

Blood-stained arms curled more tightly about the latticework, and she craned her head back, trying to get a glimpse of the scene unfolding on top of the Cannon. 

"Hojo! You grease-ridden freak! What the _ hell _ are you doing? You'll kill us all!" 

It was a futile effort - the scientist would never be able to hear her from her current position, even without the howl of the wind. Her eyes closed as the aroma of burning Mako wafted down to her, squeezed shut against the unholy glow she knew would come next. 

The Sister Ray began to shake, knocking the limp hand into the jutting section of steel nearest it. Scarlet screamed, automatically flinching away from the source of her agony; a movement that proved to be her downfall - literally. Had it not been raining so heavily, the weakening of her grip might not have mattered so - but with the oily metal slickened further by the water, regaining her grasp on the framework proved to be impossible. Her fingers slid frictionlessly over the quivering beams, and her world exploded in a wave of white heat and black chill. 

* * * 

_ Darkness; unyielding and unrelenting. _

* * * 

"...Reno?" 

The sanguine-haired man glanced up from the pile of rubble he'd been sorting through. "Yeah?" 

"Did you hear something?" Elena frowned, cocking her head to the side as if to discern the location of the disturbance. 

"Yeah." He smirked. "I hear a whole lotta gil coming our way if we find anything useful in this mess." 

"No...that wasn't..." The junior Turk shook her head. "I meant like...a voice." 

Reno laughed bitterly. "I hear voices all the time, kid. It's what comes from working with those nuts at Shin-Ra." 

Elena bristled, but refrained from remarking that she'd figured that was the bottom of the man's bottle calling to him. A hand clasped harshly on her shoulder, and she jumped. 

"She's right. I think I heard it, too." 

"Yeah?" Reno furrowed his brow. If Rude said he'd heard something, well...he was more willing to give the normally-silent man the benefit of the doubt. It wasn't that he didn't trust Elena's word - just that the blonde girl had a habit of chasing after shadows. Personally, he wouldn't have thought that anything could have survived the collapse of Shin-Ra headquarters that had taken place the previous evening - from the looks of things, whatever battle had taken place after the Turks' final run in with Cloud had carried on well into the wee hours of the morning. The rain had trickled off just prior to dawn, but the fires had burned beyond that; long enough into the day that areas of the wreckage were still smoking. 

The bald man lifted a hand, pointing to the lump of metal that had once been the Sister Ray - one of the few things that was still identifiable. They'd come looking for salvagable materials - and, less ostensibly, survivors - but the destruction was nearly so complete as to render the attempt hopeless. Certainly, there was no chance of piecing through specific sections of the building. There _ were _ no more sections of the building. 

Elena hopped off the chunk of plaster she'd been seated on and trailed after the two men, brown eyes wide. Maybe if she'd found something - someone? - she'd finally be a Turk. Sure, Reno had thrown her a compliment the night before, in the tunnels, but...she still didn't feel that she earned it. She hadn't done all the things the others had...hadn't seen what they'd seen...but she'd thought she wouldn't have the chance, either, after the group's split to escape the subway. Rude had said it. Their mission _ was _ finished - so she'd been surprised when Reno had shown up that morning, drenched to the bone. She suspected that none of them had slept - she hadn't, and he'd found her perched on one of the rooftops, watching the opposite end of the city burn. "The Turks are on salvage duty, now," he'd said. "Search and rescue." 

_ We're not all bad...just doing our job, Ma'am. _

Reno glanced to Rude, and the silent man nodded. With a groan from the redhead, the pair pulled away one of the sheets of metal that had been sheared off in the Cannon's fall. Beneath it was little more than bricks, and another section of the toppled framework. Elena scowled, disliking the idea that she'd been wrong - again - until Rude held up a finger to indicate the the other two should quiet as well. 

Though muffled, the soft moan was audible even to Reno. Blinking, he dropped to his knees and began pawing through the cracked bricks that covered the latticing; a project that was joined by the remaining Turks in seconds. 

* * * 

Scarlet whimpered softly as the first motes of light assailed her eyes, only to receive a mouthful of dust for her efforts. She'd thought the tremors of the ruins had finally ceased. Battered ribs protested the cough given to clear her throat; in the midst of her anguish, it took her longer than normal for the significance to set in. 

_ Light. _

Sore eyes fluttered open as much as she could stand, now that the expected sunlight had begun to filter down. Still, it wasn't enough for her to discern exactly what was happening. 

_ Voices..? _

* * * 

"...is she alive?" Elena tipped her head, trying to peer through the gaps in the steel. 

"..." 

"She's screaming. I would assume so." Reno groaned, reaching down to grasp an edge of the framework. "One...two..." 

With another grunt, the Turk lifted the corner of the metallic barrier. Once he'd been assured of Rude's side coming free as well, he backed away, leaving Elena to stare curiously at the form revealed by its removal. 

"That's...Scarlet, isn't it?" She'd only seen the head of Weapons Development in passing once or twice, but she'd heard stories of the office harlot. Under the dirt and blood, the matted hair was definately blonde - she thought - but the scraps of crimson fabric plastered to the woman's body were more than enough to clue her in. 

"Unfortunately." Reno smirked. "And she's not going to be happy." Returning to his knees, the man slid his arms gently beneath the fallen woman. The jolt of being moved extracted another tormented wail from the developer, and he cringed, stilling until the shrill cry faded upon her lapse once more into merciful unconsciousness. 

* * * 

...Reno. 

Of all the people in the world, it had to be Reno. 

I wonder if he'd be frightened if I told him I loved him? 

* * * 

Scarlet stood on the balcony, gazing silently at the ruins of Midgar. Who would have thought? All that destruction, and for naught...and she'd barely had a hand in it, unless one were to count her creation of the Mako Cannon and Sister Ray. And they paled in comparison to the damage wrought by Meteor. 

She'd missed that final, climactic showdown. From what she'd been told by Reno and Elena - and, surprisingly, what Rude had chipped in with - she wasn't sure that she would have wanted to experience those horrifying moments just before the world's end. It was the fact that she'd not had the _ choice _ of viewing it that vexed her - the woman had been among the privileged few who'd not even been aware of the occurrences as they'd taken place only because she'd lain, feverish with pain, on Elena's sofa; drifting in and out of consciousness for most of the hellish week. 

She remembered waking, however; all too well. She'd called out for Rufus...only to be answered by Elena's look of sorrow. And still, she'd refused to believe it until the return of the other Turks from their unfaltering search - hadn't she heard that Elena was the one who always jumped to conclusions, after all? Her surety had come in their expressions, though; their silence, the furtive glance they'd exchanged as Reno had tried to stammer a reply. And in that moment of weakness, she'd wept again. 

Even now, she had to fight back tears as she tore her eyes from the skyline. Her gaze fell instead on the tattered doll in her hand and she swallowed harshly, forcing back the bitter taste that rose in her throat. 

"I loved you, you know," she whispered to the sunrise. And, as always, the only response was silence. 

"What are you going to do now?" The voice came from behind the woman, and she jumped, turning to face Reno, Elena, and Rude. 

" _ We, _ " she said, emphasizing the word, "are going to rebuild." 

There was a simultaneous blink from the trio in the glass doorway. 

"If you want to help," she added hastily. "Otherwise, I'll do it myself." Her eyes lowered again to her hands, and she ran a fingertip along the jagged scar that marred the side of her left wrist. "I made a promise..." To herself, to Rufus, to a dead planet. It didn't matter. "Shin-Ra will live on." 

Again, there was silence; a silence that was finally broken by Elena as the youngest Turk stepped forward. "I'll help you," she announced, peeking over her shoulder at Reno and Rude. "Which means you will too, right? We're Turks! We gotta stick together." 

Reno slapped a palm against his forehead, and groaned. Beside him, Rude lifted a hand to clasp his friend's shoulder consolingly. 

A faint, warm smile tugged at the corner of Scarlet's mouth; a mouth pale without the thick layers of paint that normally concealed it. She'd have to get more, and - clothes! Thank the heavens that her apartment hadn't been one of the things that had been destroyed...well, not completely. Cleaning was going to be a bitch. It always was. "Thank you," she murmured, dipping her head in acknowledgment of the assistance. "I don't know what I would have done if you'd turned it down." 

"...you'd have come to dinner with us anyway." Reno grinned, wrapping his arm around Elena's shoulders and pulling the girl against him. She blinked, surprised, and mirrored the expression with one of her own. "C'mon. There's gotta be a bar around here somewhere that's open." 

"..." 

"What? You know you're gonna end up trying to drink me under the table. You always do." Rambling on, the redhead nudged Elena back into the apartment. 

Scarlet got the distinct impression that Rude was rolling his eyes behind the sunglasses. The blonde woman just shook her head, and laughed softly. "I'll be along in a minute." 

One last time, she stood alone on the balcony, drinking in the sight of a crumbled empire. Long moments passed before her lips parted again, to utter simply, "I still do." With those words, she backed away, the glass doors sliding shut in her wake. "I still do." 

_ I know. _


End file.
